Christian Heim (born 1960) is an Australian

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

, composer and public lecturer.

Early life and education

Heim was born in Sydney. He studied under

Peter Sculthorpe Peter Joshua Sculthorpe (29 April 1929 – 8 August 2014) was an Australian composer. Much of his music resulted from an interest in the music of countries neighboring Australia as well as from the impulse to bring together aspects of Aborigin ...

and finished a PhD in music under Anne Boyd at the University of Sydney. Further conducting and composition studies took him to Vienna, Paris and New York. Many of his works – mainly for orchestra, percussion and vocal ensembles – are of a spiritual or meditative nature and include ''Prayer Dances'', ''Journey'', and ''Transformation''. Heim gained his

Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...

(honours) from the University of Newcastle in 2001 and was granted the right to practice psychiatry on 15 February 2008. He received a Churchill Fellowship to research the therapeutic effects of music in clinical settings.

Career

In psychiatry, Heim works in private practice, subspecializing in psychotherapy. He teaches medical undergraduates and lectures to trainee psychiatrists. He researches on the arts/health interface and is an Associate Senior Lecturer at the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

. In music, Heim held academic lecturing posts in music at the

University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (abbreviated as UOW) is an Australian public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney. As of 2017, the university had an enrolment of ...

and the University of Newcastle and lectured (casual) at the Manhattan School of Music. His musical ''Starlight'' unofficially opened the Hope Theatre, Wollongong. His findings on the effects of

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

music on

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

patients were published in ''Australasian Journal of Ageing'' in early 2004. They were described on the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

Radio National Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors an ...

program, ''

The National Interest ''The National Interest'' (''TNI'') is an American bimonthly international relations magazine edited by American journalist Jacob Heilbrunn and published by the Center for the National Interest, a public policy think tank based in Washington, D ...

'' in July 2004. A grant from the Bernard Judd Foundation enabled further publications in this area.

Move Records Move Records is an Australian record label that was started in 1968 by Martin Wright. It concentrates primarily in classical and jazz music, particularly Australian, and most frequently Melbourne-based musicians and composers. Artists Compo ...

released a CD of his work ''Prayer Dances'' featuring the

Sydney Chamber Choir Sydney Chamber Choir is a choir from Sydney formed as the Sydney University Chamber Choir in 1975. Following its formation in 1975, the Sydney Chamber Choir quickly established itself as a champion of Renaissance Music, especially the works of J ...

and Sprung Percussion. He composed the music for and directed theatre productions for Crossbow Productions. These include Maxwell Anderson’s ''Mary of Scotland'' (Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, Wollongong 2004), Shakespeare’s ''Measure for Measure'' (the Myers Theatre, Kensington 2005), Anderson’s ''Anne of the Thousand Days'' (Brisbane Powerhouse 2006), William Gibson’s ''The Miracle Worker'' (Brisbane Powerhouse 2009), William Nicholson’s ''Shadowlands'' (Brisbane Powerhouse 2010), and Sartre’s ''No Exit'' (Darling Harbour Convention Centre, Sydney 2011) among others. These productions provided the basis for academic publications on topics such as cultural issues and theatre, catering for people with disabilities, and the role of consciousness in Meisner-based acting. Mardi Lumsden of ''JourneyOnline'' felt his 2010 direction of '' Shadowlands'', a play written by William Nicholson, "is an innovative adaptation ... with the introduction of live music, sculpture and mine." Caitlin Graham of ''Australian Stage'' felt that due to "some clumsy and fussy direction" it "falls short" whilst "The music and the sculpture are lovely and create a nice atmosphere." Heim delivers public lectures on topics combining psychiatry and music. These include: "Baroque & the Brain Wave: can music help in dementia care?" to the

Royal Society of New South Wales The Royal Society of New South Wales is a learned society based in Sydney, Australia. The Governor of New South Wales is the vice-regal patron of the Society. The Society was established as the Philosophical Society of Australasia on 27 June ...

(the society's Anne Wood described that "What he has done is to take this music from the late 17th century through to the mid 18th century and explore its therapeutic use in dementia patients with the aim of producing more calming brainwaves);" "An Afternoon with Frederic Chopin and George Sand" where he played piano in a portrayal of Chopin with Caroline Heim as Sand; and “Beethoven’s Immortal Beloved” where he explored the psyche of the composer who never married. He writes books aimed at improving relationships and preventing mental health problems.

Bibliography

* ''Journey'' (1983) * ''Transformation'' (1993) * ''Prayer Dances'' (2000)

* ''Music Therapy in Hospital Settings'' (2001) * ''The Lazy Way to Overcome Procrastination'' (2015) Vivid publishing * ''Your Relationship Is Your Greatest Asset'' (2017) Vivid publishing * ''Listen (how to)'' (2017) Vivid publishinghttp://www.vividpublishing.com.au/listen/ access date 24 July 2018

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heim, Christian Australian psychiatrists Australian male composers Australian composers 1960 births Living people Academic staff of the University of Wollongong